The "How to go Barebottom thread."

[SeanT]

You can do that as well.
I am more of a knock-it-all-out-at- once kind of guy.

Sean

 

[ezhoops]

Sean, can you tell me before I buy a UV sterilizer if and why I should run one with my BB tank?

 

[10" Red Devil]

You can do that as well.
I am more of a knock-it-all-out-at- once kind of guy.

Sean

Hey who was this in answer to?

 

[SeanT]

Hey who was this in answer to?

pwest.

 

[SeanT]

Sean, can you tell me before I buy a UV sterilizer if and why I should run one with my BB tank?

UV's help in several ways.
First is to kill pathogens which effect livestock negatively.
But...we aren't concerned with that here.
UV's are very efficient at breaking down the organics that are accumulating for more efficient export.
UV's do this by breaking down long molecules by ionzation
UV's are great at breaking down coral warfare chemicals and good at breaking organic bonds that would discolor water.
Sean

 

[10" Red Devil]

I really wanna know how those who have established coral heads have gone bb without damaging the corals attached to their rock?

 

[disbjohn]

Maybe they skipped cooking those rocks with large corals and just used a powerhead/turkey baster to blow off the detritus and then vaccuum it up over a period of time.

 

[Bomber]

I really wanna know how those who have established coral heads have gone bb without damaging the corals attached to their rock?

RD, cooking the rocks is just a short cut for people that wanted to strip their tanks and start over - all in one day.

If you don't cook the rocks, you need to stay on top of removing detritus from the system until the rocks clean up. I would keep a eye on any hard corals attacked to rocks while you do that. As phosphate migrates out of the rock, it can also wick up into coral skeletons. That causes RTN, STN etc. Keep a lot of flow around the base of the corals and blast the pores of the rocks to get the detritus out around them too. You don't want it to clog up and create a anoxic area to release more P.

Also, I would add a ton of astreas and ceriths to harvest any algae and detritus, making it easier to skim out.

 

[10" Red Devil]

Okay so lets say I have a 20Long connected to a 10 gallon what would be the perfect setup as far as powerhead pump combo?

Right now I have about a 1" layer of sand that I vaccum every week when doing my 20% water change. The sand is a mixture of fine and coarse sand.

I have a Catalina return pump that is pumping 900 or slightly more gph and it is plumbed through a SCWD. I have a Remora Pro for skimming and it has a mJ1200 powerhead. I have a heat issue right now with the pumps I have submersed which when the lights are off heat up the tank to 84F without a 6" fan blowing across the display, when the fan is on it brings it back down to 81-82. This is with a Ambient temp of 74-73F.

Thanks.

 

[king1522]

I have a question regarding live rock (actually now quiet dead!). I am starting a new 30 gal. cube and planning to go bare bottom. I plan on using rock that I have had out of my main aquarium for over a year. It is very dry and actually set out in the sun and rain for several months. Is there any problems I should be aware of from using this rock?
Thanks
Don

 

[SeanT]

RD, cooking the rocks is just a short cut for people that wanted to strip their tanks and start over - all in one day.

Hey Old Man...I don't consider 'cooking' rock a shortcut...I consider it a long cut.

 

[SeanT]

I really wanna know how those who have established coral heads have gone bb without damaging the corals attached to their rock?

To be honest...if you put. say, an encrusted blue tort in a 'cooking' tub it would die.
Some of the hardier, nutrient dependant corals will survive like 'shrooms, but even the Montipora difitata's that encrusted some of my rocks I 'cooked' bit the bullet in a week or two.
This is just MY experience though.

Sean

 

[SeanT]

Is there any problems I should be aware of from using this rock?
Thanks
Don

Yes.
The rock is still full of nutrients.
Since it has been out of your tank for so long you aren't missing it that badly.
So I would suggest setting up a cooking tub, seed it with a small piece of LR from your main system and let the bacteria go to work.

The benefits are two-fold.
First and foremost you won't cause a cycle.
And secondly, you won't be releasing organics into your main tank.

Sean

 

[10" Red Devil]

RD, cooking the rocks is just a short cut for people that wanted to strip their tanks and start over - all in one day.

If you don't cook the rocks, you need to stay on top of removing detritus from the system until the rocks clean up. I would keep a eye on any hard corals attacked to rocks while you do that. As phosphate migrates out of the rock, it can also wick up into coral skeletons. That causes RTN, STN etc. Keep a lot of flow around the base of the corals and blast the pores of the rocks to get the detritus out around them too. You don't want it to clog up and create a anoxic area to release more P.

Also, I would add a ton of astreas and ceriths to harvest any algae and detritus, making it easier to skim out.

Thanks for the great information.

Just wondering how does phosphate wick up into the skeletons of sps as you say?

 

[10" Red Devil]

So the SPS absorb po4 that may be bound up in your rock? Wow! I hope that is not true! How should I be attaching the corals to my rock then?

Thanks.

 

[fishdoc11]

An sps skeleton is the same composition as live rock. Just as live rock can wick up PO4 from dirty sand an sps skeleton can wick up PO4 from live rock. As long as you put some kind of barrier(ie superglue, epoxy or both)between them that should prevent this from happening.
Chris

 

[Travis]

To be honest...if you put. say, an encrusted blue tort in a 'cooking' tub it would die.
Some of the hardier, nutrient dependant corals will survive like 'shrooms, but even the Montipora difitata's that encrusted some of my rocks I 'cooked' bit the bullet in a week or two.
This is just MY experience though.

Sean

When I had a tank crash a couple years ago I left all of my rock in the dark for about 6 weeks in hopes of getting rid of some nuisance algae that was plaguing me. I had broken off all coral heads from the rocks but there were still some pieces of the bases left on the rock. As far as I knew, I thought all the corals were dead from the crash already. Apparently, there wer a couple small pieces of digitata on some of the rocks. Not only did the digitata survive the crash, it also survived 6 weeks in the dark. So did the red turf algae I was trying to get rid of.

Keep in mind, this rock was not cooking. It was simply left in my dsb tank with the lights off and a black sheet over the tank for the time period. So the stuff that lived was probably able to survive off the nutrients in the water. If I had actually cooked it for 6 weeks it probably would have been a different story.

 

[Travis]

oops

 

[Bryan89]

Question on Starboard/HDPE

Question on Starboard/HDPE

I am purchasing a 1.5" thick sheet of Starboard for my 400 gallon tank and I am curious how much of a gap are all of you leaving in the Starboard relative to your inside the tank dimensions. The manufacturer of Starboard said that there will be no water adsorption causing expansion and that the only expansion 'may' be due to temperature changes, which are minimal if at all. Based on this, I plan on using a 1/8" gap. Anyone else have experience or ideas they are willing to share on this?

 

[brentp]

I would leave 1/2 an inch if you have a glass tank to leave room for the silicone.